Chrissy has taught secondary English and history and writes online curriculum. She has an M.S.Ed. in Social Studies Education.

Horrible factory conditions were common during the Industrial Revolution. This lesson describes how Robert Owen worked to change these conditions. A brief quiz follows the lesson.

18th and 19th Century Working Conditions

Think about your life when you were five or six years old. What did an average day look like? You probably spent at least part of your day in school with friends, learning your ABCs, enjoying some time on the playground, or possibly even taking a nap in the afternoon. This was not the reality for many small children 150 to 200 years ago. Instead of going to school, countless kids spent their days toiling in hot, stuffy, and unsafe factories. In some instances, children were forced to work as long as 15 hours in a single day. Most children today aren't even awake for that many hours! Working conditions were the same for adults. You can imagine how miserable life was. Robert Owen saw the inherent problem with this system and worked throughout his life to change it.

Robert Owen and the Textile Industry

Robert Owen was born 1771 as the British Industrial Revolution started to really get going. He began working in the textile industry as a child in Manchester, England. Even a as a kid, Owen realized that there was something wrong with the factories and mills he worked in and ran. The employees were treated horribly, and as a result, were truly miserable. By the age of 19, Owen was already managing and running a textile mill. In his early 20s, Owen became the managing partner for a cotton mill in New Lanark, a town in Scotland. It was here that Owen began implementing his brilliant ideas for change.

Improving Factory Life

Compared to many of the other mills that Owen had experienced, New Lanark had comparably better working conditions, but in his eyes, they were not good enough. Early on, Owen observed that the way mills treated their employees had a significant impact on not only their work ethic, but also on how they behaved outside of the mill.

Have you ever had a family member, teacher, or boss treat you poorly and make crazy demands? If that's happened, how did you feel about it? Odds are good that you were not happy. Owen determined that instead of dictating orders or trying to control his employees, it was much better to manage them and create a happy work environment. Robert Owen had stumbled upon an important truth: Happy employees are more productive.

So, instead of bossing his employees around, how did Robert Owen manage his mills? For starters, he started improving both the working and living conditions of the people who worked for him. During the Industrial Revolution, it was not uncommon for people to live in factory housing. They spent all day in the factory and then paid overpriced rents to their employers for unsafe and unsanitary dormitories or homes. Owen began investing business profits to improve factory housing. He modeled for his employees how to live cleaner and healthier lifestyles. In New Lanark, Owen also built a new employee store stocked with affordable products. Unlike most other mills at the time, Owen did not employ any children. Instead, he built schools for the children of New Lanark. The school's curriculum focused on building strong moral character.

In his mill, Owen emphasized the importance of cooperation. If everyone worked hard towards a common goal, then everyone would be rewarded by the efforts, not just a single person. Owen also implemented a way to track his employees' productivity. Under the silent monitor system, each employee had a block over their work station with color-coded sides. Depending on how well they did that day, their block was changed to the specific color that represented their productivity level. This way, everyone else in the factory could see their color. In lieu of yelling or reprimanding employees, the silent monitor system motivated employees to improve their work.

Lesson Summary

Robert Owen was an 18th-century factory owner who emphasized reform. Unlike many other factories during the Industrial Revolution, Owen's factories emphasized the happiness and well-being of its employees. In the town of New Lanark, Owen improved employee housing and built schools for the town's children. He also refused to employ children in his mills. Robert Owen emphasized the importance of managing his employees instead of controlling them. To do this, he implemented the silent monitor system in which employee productivity was reflected by the color of a block hung over their work station.

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